1. Field
Embodiments relate to a driving device usable with an image forming apparatus, which includes gears for power transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus is designed to print an image on a recording medium such as paper, and so on. Examples of image forming apparatuses include printers, copiers, fax machines, and devices combining functions thereof.
Such an image forming apparatus includes driven elements, such as a variety of rollers, a photoconductor drum, a belt, and so on, which perform operations required to move paper or print an image on paper. These driven elements are driven by a driving device.
The driving device includes a motor, and power transmission members to transmit power from the motor to the driven elements. The power transmission members may include gears, couplers, and clutches for power control.
The gears transmit power while being engaged and rotated with each other. Although the gears are designed to realize perfect engagement thereof, the engaged gears may actually be misaligned. This misalignment may occur due to positional errors caused when the driven elements are mounted in the image forming apparatus, straightness/parallelism errors of gear supporting shafts, errors caused by deformation of the shafts or a frame supporting the shafts during power transmission, dimensional errors of the gears, and so on.